Padres Close to Sending Adrian Gonzalez to Boston? (Updated 8:12am CDT)

7/31/09 8:12am CDT: Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden of the New York Daily News report this morning that the Red Sox are in "full pursuit" of Adrian Gonzalez and they could get Heath Bell as well if the Sox are willing to include Daniel Bard.

Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald also confirms that the Red Sox are more interested in Gonzalez than they are Victor Martinez.

7/30/09: Could the San Diego Padres be close to sending All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox?

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the two teams talked at length on Wednesday and were expected to continue their conversations again today. 

The question that would bring up is, will Clay Buchholz be coming to San Diego in this deal?  I would think the Padres would require he be part of any deal for a guy like Adrian, but only time will tell.  Bringing Buchholz into a rotation with Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Mat Latos, and then bring in the possibility of Stephen Strasburg not signing with the Nationals and possibly being drafted by San Diego in 2010, this could be a very scary rotation for the next few seasons.

Another Padres' writer for Bleacher Report, M.T. Robinson, did a Writers Roundtable where all of the participants were asked about this exact possibility of Gonzalez being traded.  Just a few hours removed from that article, it looks like it's a very real possibility that Adrian could be headed to Boston, which is contrary to comments made by general manager Kevin Towers in an article from Padres' beat writer Corey Brock.

We should know for sure in the next 24 hours whether this deal is made by the two teams, or if the Padres are content to hang on to their first baseman.